HUMBLING

demeaning, humbling, humiliating, mortifying

(adjective) causing awareness of your shortcomings; “golf is a humbling game”

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Verb

humbling

present participle of humble

Noun

humbling (plural humblings)

An event which causes humbleness; a set-down.

Adjective

humbling (comparative more humbling, superlative most humbling)

Of higher rank, status, quality, strength, etc.; inducing a feeling of inferiority.

Source: Wiktionary


HUMBLE

Hum"ble, a. [Compar. Humbler; superl. Humblest.] Etym: [F., fr. L. humilis on the ground, low, fr. humus the earth, ground. See Homage, and cf. Chameleon, Humiliate.]

1. Near the ground; not high or lofty; not pretentious or magnificent; unpretending; unassuming; as, a humble cottage. THy humble nest built on the ground. Cowley.

2. Thinking lowly of one's self; claiming little for one's self; not proud, arrogant, or assuming; thinking one's self ill-deserving or unworthy, when judged by the demands of God; lowly; waek; modest. God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Jas. iv. 6. She should be humble who would please. Prior. Without a humble imitation of the divine Author of our . . . religion we can never hope to be a happy nation. Washington. Humble plant (Bot.), a species of sensitive plant, of the genus Mimosa (M. sensitiva).

– To eat humble pie, to endure mortification; to submit or apologize abjectly; to yield passively to insult or humilitation; -- a phrase derived from a pie made of the entrails or humbles of a deer, which was formerly served to servants and retainers at a hunting feast. See Humbles. Halliwell. Thackeray.

Hum"ble, a.

Definition: Hornless. See Hummel. [Scot.]

Hum"ble, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Humbled; p. pr. & vb. n. Humbling.]

1. To bring low; to reduce the power, independence, or exaltation of; to lower; to abase; to humilate. Here, take this purse, thou whom the heaven's plagues Have humbled to all strokes. Shak. The genius which humbled six marshals of France. Macaulay.

2. To make humble or lowly in mind; to abase the pride or arrogance of; to reduce the self-sufficiently of; to make meek and submissive;

– often used rexlexively. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you. 1 Pet. v. 6.

Syn.

– To abase; lower; depress; humiliate; mortify; disgrace; degrade.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

29 June 2024

INITIALISM

(noun) an abbreviation formed from the initial letters of the several words in the name and pronounced separately; “HTML is an initialism for HyperText Markup Language”


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Coffee Trivia

Contrary to popular belief, coffee beans are not technically beans. They are referred to as such because of their resemblance to legumes. A coffee bean is a seed of the Coffea plant and the source for coffee. It is the pit inside the red or purple fruit, often referred to as a cherry. Just like ordinary cherries, the coffee fruit is also a so-called stone fruit.

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